Introduction

Founded in 1999, Zalman has been around for a very long time. As such, you could say they are one of the old guard, having formed back when PC gaming first really began to kick off with NVIDIA's release of the GeForce 256. Fast forward to today and Zalman has expanded into multiple markets and categories, not just coolers and fans, but also cases, power supplies, all-in-one liquid coolers, keyboards, and much more. Even so, they are perhaps best known for their legendary CNPS 9500, 9700, and 9900 CPU coolers, which were so well received they sky-rocketed the company's popularity within the DIY community.


In today's review, I look at Zalman's CNPS17X, which on the surface appears to be half of a CNPS20X. However, the CNPS17X has one less heat pipe. Even so, it is rated to handle up to a 200-watt TDP, which is still fairly impressive for this slimmer single-tower design. When it comes to marketing, Zalman has really pushed the envelope here, describing the cooler as having 4D Stereoscopic corrugated cooling fins and an RDTH "Reverse Direct Touch Heat pipe" cold plate. Honestly, the marketing is a bit much, but considering the CNPS20X is in the same family, it wasn't unexpected. So without further delay, let's take a closer look at what the CNPS17X has to offer.